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If everyone stopped drinking then the White Clays of the world would go away. I wrote this cartoon in response to the protests that are centered on ridding Pine Ridge of White Clay. This is my reservation and I too wish it would go away forever. I have cousins who died within White Clay’s city limits. Cousins that I knew since my childhood, I have seen people die slowly from cirrhosis, and saw the dead killed in alcohol fueled accidents.
White Clay was built in response to a need. Some people don’t care how they make their money and there are plenty of boot legers in Pine Ridge ready to supply that demand. If you were to bull doze White Clay down it would just reopen its doors down the road under another name. There is just too much money involved, too much of a demand.
But you see that protesting White Clay is a way to make the problem take physical form. All the social ills of Pine Ridge are not blamed on the perpetrators but the alcohol they consume. So White Clay becomes the monster that people can rally against and physically attack. The problem of course is that when it becomes clear that is effort is futile the protester is disheartened and depressed. This energy should be used to combat the real foe.
The answer is simple yet hard. Quit drinking. It is personal, it is real, and it is the only way.
Thank you for your comments. Marty Two Bulls Sr. Oglala Lakota